Canada wins battle against Venezuela in Pool A

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic, July 3, 2016 – Canada overcame a resilient Venezuela to score a 3-1 (22-25, 25-20, 31-29, 25-21) victory in a Pool A contest at the XV Women’s Volleyball Pan American Cup on Sunday. The victory enabled Canada to improve its record to 2-0 while Venezuela fell to 0-2.

Danielle Brisebois scored 16 points, including five aces, and Shainah Joseph followed with 15, with four aces, the most productive players of Canada. Michaela Reesor and Lucille Charuk contributed 11 and 10 points, respectively, in the victory.

Desiree Glod, Roslandy Acosta and Aleoscar Blanco each had 16 points in the losing cause, while Luz Delfines added 13.

Venezuela had the top hand in attacks 57-41 but Canada dominated in blocks 15-7 and service winners 14-4.

“We had many ups and downs during the entire match but we played as a team at the end of the sets,” Charuk said. “Especially in the fourth set when we came back it was a group effort.”

“This is a game of mistakes and they kept the control better than us,” Glod said afterwards. “They have better rhythm than us.”

“I was not surprised by the game of Venezuela since we have studied their videos of the Olympic qualifier,” said Arnd Ludwig, the coach of Canada. “Our bench was a key for us. All the players used off the bench did the job.  In the fourth set Marie Sophie Nadeau came in to stabilize our reception and we were able to score with good serves and blocks.”

“They controlled the game at the end of the sets,” Venezuelan coach Ivan Nieto said. “ We were ahead in the score many times but the lack of consistency was a factor.”